Thursday, August 11, 2005

The Slime and Drudge of Smear Mongers

I did not intend to blog on this subject again so quickly, but the newest bit of low end smear tactics from the right, inspires a response.

This is from the Drudge report, a letter supposedly signed by some of Cindy Sheehan's relatives, appealing for Cindy to "Stop"

Below, I have reprinted the short 'article' in question.

FAMILY OF FALLEN SOLDIER PLEADS: PLEASE STOP, CINDY!Thu Aug 11 2005 12:56:21 ETThe family of American soldier Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004, has broken its silence and spoken out against his mother Cindy Sheehan's anti-war vigil against George Bush held outside the president's Crawford, Texas ranch. The following email was received by the DRUDGE REPORT from Casey's aunt and godmother: Our family has been so distressed by the recent activities of Cindy we are breaking our silence and we have collectively written a statement for release. Feel free to distribute it as you wish. Thanks, Cherie In response to questions regarding the Cindy Sheehan/Crawford Texas issue: Sheehan Family Statement: The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President, silently, with prayer and respect. Sincerely, Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins.

To start with, just to be fair, this note claims to have been written by two individuals who assume they represent the rest of the family yet only two people claim to have written it and neither has named themselves. Odd thing for someone making a public statement claiming to speak for others. It reads like it was written by a political hack, to me.

But, one must consider the source. Drudge is a bottom feeding muckraker who had his moment of attention, quite some time ago. He has milked that moment for all it's worth but try as he may, he can't make it back to the lime light, no matter how low he sinks.

This article is as low as it gets. He presents it in a manner, mentioning no names, that will allow him an out, if it turns out to be fraudulent.

Let's assume that it isn't a made up job, (just for the sake of discussion). Being, as I am, the product of a red neck American family, it is easy to read the self pity, arrogance, and presumption in this little lash out.

I can imagine that a strong, active, intelligent woman like Cindy Sheehan is leaned on by at least part of her extended family and in-laws. Some one may be missing her free services. Pure speculation based on the note of self pity in the demand.

The arrogant assumption that their needs and desires out rank Cindy's, based on some level of blood tie, speaks for itself. The attempted guilt trip, the claim that Cindy some how dishonors her son, by not playing the pretense that it was a noble loss, is just the sort of garbage that families and in-laws throw at each other on a regular basis. Always striving to claim the moral high ground to excuse their desire to control. Yet it still reads like it was written by a pro political hack.

What this sort of tactic says, for the right wing war supporters, is that they are running out of options and ideas. The tiny president can't meet, face to face, with an honest citizen, one not swayed or bought by dreams of political reward. It is damned hard for the hacks to to come up with a good excuse for the president's obvious show of weakness.

A person like Cindy is very hard to smear. So you have make up a family drama, a soap opera scenario, in a strained attempt to paint the woman black. They have to do that because the president's behavior is beyond any spin doctor fix. The toadies and operatives find themselves with the dire task of trying to smear and belittle a woman who genuinely represents many ordinary Americans.

To me, the most telling thing in this scenario, is that the presidentcan't face this woman. If he himself, actually believed in the necessity and the 'nobility' of this war, he would have no trouble meeting this woman whether she agreed with him or not. But the compulsive liar, the little president, can not meet this woman because she stands so much taller than he does. He and his advisers know it.

The little president, dumb as he is, knows exactly why we are really fighting this war. But he can't say it, can he? He can't talk about the promises to corporate supporters, he can't talk about his pre-presidential plan to invade Iraq as part of becoming his idea of a "Great President".

He can't talk about the natural destiny of his superior class, he can't talk about the power and privilege of oil companies, or the tax dollar pork, literally thrown at his class and his corporate cronies and supporters. He can't talk about Dick Cheney and the mountains of corruption that lay there in. He can never admit that he isn't really the president, that Cheney and Rove call the shots in his 'great' presidency.

He can not stand face to face with an honest uncorrupted citizen. No wonder he hates and fears democracy.

All the kings men and all the kings horses do not know what to do with an honest, courageous citizen who can't be bought or killed and will not back down.

Lo' how the mighty are falling. The entire world is watching this drama. A stand off between an honest and courageous woman and this powerful, cowardly liar. It is not getting the coverage one might hope for in the corporate American media but it is a big story in Europe and much of the world. It was a feature story in Canada's national media today.

The little president blinks early, in every personal test he has faced. I can not believe this weak, lazy, cowardly little man is actually the president. A president who doesn't work late. Doesn't work week ends. and spends much of his time on vacation, does so because, he is only needed for the figurehead duties.

I haven't seen the little President at his gate saying "Bring it on little momma!" He only says that when someone else is on the sharp point of the stick. Pathetic.

My friend and soon to be editor, Nancy, another transplanted southerner, has asked me to pass this on to my readers:

MoveOn is taking out an ad in President Bush's local newspaper in support of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who is camped outside Bush's ranch in Texas asking for a meeting with the president. They'll publish the number of signers and the best comments in a full two-page spread in the newspaper nearest to Crawford (The Waco Tribune Herald) while Cindy holds her vigil. Can you sign and spread the word before the 3:00 PM Friday print deadline?

Post Script- Cindy Sheehan's husband and immediate family have expressed great support for what Cindy is doing, giving support to my belief that this letter is a sham. Who cares what a couple of pissed off in-laws think? Most of us have experienced the reality petty judgmental in-laws and all of us have experienced the reality of media hacks that make things up.

12 Comments:

It never ceases to amaze me what certain people will do when afraid of a woman not shy about speaking her mind...hell they tried to have the suffragettes committed to the insane asylum for having the audacity to ask for the vote...and women who were good midwives and healers were often burned at the stake for their superior to men medical abilities. If one little woman can point out how rude and mean this little man is, and how full of contempt he is for those who have fallen - then she deserves a medal - because it is certainly not going to the cowardly media, and certainly not going to anyone in a position of power that could have actually DONE anything. SHAME on him. Where is his Christianity now? His compassion? His charity? Nowhere, because it never existed.

Since I myself reside in Texas and I and my family come from the deep south. I find it difficult to believe that any self righteous in-law or family member would sign the letter by their relation to the deceased and not by name. The whole point would seem to me to be sure that the people involved would get the necessary gratification of all knowing that their individual intrests are served by a personal signature. That is after all the main agenda to proclaim their innocense in what they state to be an attack on the family pride as well as an attack on the president and country.

Rebba from Texas wrote the previous comment. I know how difficult it must be for the mother of this young man to stand up to her family and friends and the hecklers she would have to face and I applaud her bravery and her dedication. She has the spirit of what once made this a great country. She stands with a brave heart and our president is a coward for not speaking with her.

It's interesting how afraid of debate Bush and his followers are. I was talking to a rabid Bush supporter from Alabama yesterday and he tried to tell me that the only reason Cindy Sheehan is there is because she was paid off by Micheal Moore of all people. Refused to talk about the issues she was bringing up and just kept going on about how she has no credibility becuase she was Micheal Moore's mouthpiece.

I guess if anyone who criticizes Bush does so only because Micheal Moore has paid them to, then he owes you and I a lot of back pay.

Greetings friends, I must agree with the comments by Rebba, that this supposed email from her "aunt and god-mother" reads like it was written by Drudge himself or some political hack, not by a regular person. And, as you point out, the person would most likely be very proud to sign at least her own name, since it claims to represent so many people.

As I said, the lack of real names indicates to me that this was written by Drudge himself or some one very like him.

Having no names makes it easy for Drudge to keep pretending he got it from some member of the extended family who doesn't wish to be identified.

The creeps and bottom feeders like Drudge have only so many tricks to play.

That's the problem with having so many lies to cover, eventually you become paralyzed, much as the little president is in the face of an honest citizen, right now.

I know there are many Americans out there utterly sick of the way their country is being flushed down the toilet by a minority of psychopathic leaders. Make no mistake, this is exactly what they are.

This is an extremely dangerous time for all Americans (and indeed the world) and while I applaud Blogs like this I worry about the lack of knowledge and awareness generally in the US concerning how very deep the corruption and machiavellian tactics used by Karl Rove, Cheney et al. really are.

Cindy Sheehan may yet give rise to a real grassroots movement to demand the truth about the war in a Iraq and the phoney "War on Terrorism," not least, 9/11.

BTW, If you guys haven't watched it yet, you might like to check out: 'The Power of Nightmares' a UK documentary giving a sobering account of exactly how the War on Terrorism is a manufactured geo-political tool to retain the Neo-Con's strategy for continuing global power. Go here for downloads:

I think you are right about people needing to be aware of how very dangerous these monsters are - thank you for the links, have heard about The Power of Darkness but need to look it up and see if they have any advise like PBS documentary DOWNFALL OF A DICTATOR.

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About Me

Raised from age three in small town and semi rural areas of Alabama, I am something of a converted redneck. A 'leftneck' as a Virginia friend calls himself. Being a product of one of the lowest appendages of American culture and sink holes of the economy, I represented class A cannon fodder during the Vietnam war.
I ended my Air Force enlistment, without permission, in 1969. I have lived in Canada since 1970.
The horrible din made by the destruction of American democracy, inspires and prods me to write about what I see from my expatriate view of America.